Consumers have a colossal choice when they set out to to splash their cash these days, so how do you make your company’s products and services stand out from the crowd?
While your business name and logo may create a good first impression, this could go by the wayside if your tone of voice is all over the place. And, let’s face it. The last thing you want to be, is quirky if you’re offering funeral services.
Some companies articulate their brands so well – take Soap and Glory or Innocent for example – witty, to the point and consistent with every product.
Creating the perfect tone of voice for your brand is essential if you’re an anchovy in a shoal battling for the last bit of plankton.
Read on to find out why tone of voice is crucial to your website and communications:
What is tone of voice?
Basically, it’s how you sound, what you say and how you come across. It can be a maker or breaker in terms of how your company’s personality is perceived – and getting it just right can be tricky.
People can learn a lot about your brand values and the more consistent you are with your tone of voice and chosen language, the more trusted your brand becomes and likely to be chosen over others.
“We’re not saying that there’s anything wrong with going for a gym workout, it’s just, you know, all a bit of an effort really, isn’t it? If I were you, I’d just have an Innocent smoothie instead.” Innocent
Why have a distinct tone of voice?
Give credibility
Having a well-defined tone of voice shows you are serious about your business and, more importantly, your clients.
It means you took the time to consider your target audience, along with their needs and expectations.
Attract the right customers
With a formal, business-like tone, you won’t be too surprised when some grungy teenagers pass you by. On the flipside, by going for a more informal and modern approach, you’ll soon be making friends with a different group altogether.
Express your brand values
The personality traits reflected in your tone will eventually build perceptions of your products or services.It just needs to be a consistent voice, so that people can start to trust your brand.
How do you create the right tone of voice?
To get the one right yo have to know the brand inside and out. You may wonder, how you can achieve this by hiring an external copywriting agency like Fried Egg Media.
Well, sometimes it helps to have an outsider’s perspective on how things come across. Is something too cheesy or harsh?
A freelancer or writing business could give a company options, perhaps by writing a few paragraphs in different styles and letting them choose how they’d like to come across.
Some clients already have strict brand guidelines and this can be hard when you’re dealing with different audiences, for example, your own employees and freelance copywriters.
There are a few simple ways to make your words nice to read:
Lose the robot tone – Write like you’d speak to a friend.
Lose the lingo – There’s no need for jargon so why use 20 words when 5 will do?
Be bold – Don’t be afraid to stand out and be different.
Contact Fried Egg today
If you want to create the right tone of voice for your company website, then contact us today. It’s what we do best.